Semyon Bychkov

“Eugene Onegin tells a love story that doesn’t work”. This is how Ralph Fiennes sums up the plot of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera, inspired by Pushkin’s work. A jaded young dandy, Onegin sets shy Tatiana on fire at first sight. Overcoming her reticence, she writes him a passionate love letter. Alas, he brutally refuses, giving her a lecture on morality. However, years later, after a duel, he falls in love with the young woman who is now Prince Gremin’s wife. Will she yield to his advances? Fascinated by Russian culture and attuned to the dramatic intensity of Tchaikovsky’s music, Ralph Fiennes is directing his first opera. If he chooses to use pictorial simplicity to evoke the Russian countryside or a ballroom, it is all the better to emphasise the emotions of the characters, as complex as they are modern.

The musical performance of Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony is interactively connected with the visual interpretation of the piece. The arrangement of the visualization concentrates on what the music expresses and the emotions it brings forth. Thus, Gustav Mahler's cultural-historical setting and the sources of his own inspiration do not come into play in this visualization. This work is a matter of blending together two interpretations: one expressed musically and the other visually.

Semyon Bychkov WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN F MAJOR, OP. 90 SYMPHONY NO. 4 IN E MINOR, OP. 98 Far from being conservative, as Brahms often has been referred to, his symphonies show the composer as a groundbreaking pioneer far ahead of his time. He may not have broken dramatic new ground in the same way as his musical colleagues Liszt and Wagner, who invented new genres. Instead, his innovations took place at the mircro-level – within music’s inner palm. In this respect Brahms was far ahead of his time – and this fact explains what half a century later Arnold Schoenberg regards him as “progressive” and was referring to him for his own compositional theory.

Semyon Bychkov conducts a cast of young, up-and-coming talent including American soprano Corinne Winters in a new production of Mozart’s opera on the nature of love.

In Verdi’s retelling of Shakespeare’s towering tragedy, Renée Fleming gives a captivating performance as the innocent Desdemona, a role long considered one of her calling cards. Johan Botha as the title hero delivers an imposing portrayal of a proud warrior brought down by jealousy, and Falk Struckmann is thrilling as the villainous Iago. James Morris sings Lodovico. Elijah Moshinsky’s production is conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

The Bells, Op. 35 by Sergei Rachmaninov Conductor: Semyon Bychkov Orchestra/Ensemble: Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1913; Russia 2. Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 by Sergei Rachmaninov Conductor: Semyon Bychkov Orchestra/Ensemble: Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1940; USA 3. Symphony no 2 in E minor, Op. 27 by Sergei Rachmaninov Conductor: Semyon Bychkov Orchestra/Ensemble: Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra Period: 20th Century Written: 1906-1907; Russia